Thai Green Curry

Approx. 180 Calories per serving (not counting rice). Recipe makes 3 servings.

At the farmer's market this weekend, I found some tasty looking Thai eggplant. I also found some small round purple eggplants and knew I needed to make green curry. I didn't have any curry paste at home, so made a quick stop at the Asian market to pick some up. I also found fresh lychees and grabbed some for dessert, although I was a bit worried that they might not be ripe because they weren't very red. Luckily they tasted very sweet.

My version of the curry is lower fat than the traditional recipe, because I don't stir fry the meat with the curry and I don't use as much coconut milk as traditional recipes say to use. This was a really quick and easy dish. In the time it took the rice to cook in my microwave steamer (15 minutes), I was able to do all the prep work and cook the curry. The curry finished cooking just as the microwave beeped.

Ingredients

• 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 8-10 Thai eggplants (golf ball sized, I used a mixture of green and purple)
• 2 1/2 Tbs Thai green curry paste, adjust to your spice preference (I used Maesri brand)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk, adjust to your taste
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Thai sweet basil
• 2/3 cup red bell pepper
• 2-3 fresh Thai bird chilies (optional, I didn't have any)

Directions

1. Add water to a medium sauce pan and bring to boil.
2. Add chicken breast and cook until white. (I cubed mine after it was cooked, but normal people can cut it before adding it to the water)
3. Add curry paste and mix well.
4. Add coconut milk.
5. Add Thai chilies if you use them.
6. Add quartered eggplant and boil until almost soft.
7. Add cubed red bell pepper.
8. Boil until eggplant is soft and pepper is tender.
9. Add chopped Thai basil and cook for about 1 minute before removing from heat.
10. Serve with rice.